For a band that has languished in relative obscurity since the ’80s, Defunkt, which has been active since 1978, gets a whole lot of recognition. The group has recently been called the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s biggest influence, in lead singer Anthony Kiedis’s biography.
Defunkt members are some of the most respected musicians in the business. According to the band’s website, Defunkt “never gained huge commercial success due to our unwillingness to compromise creativity and musical uniqueness and integrity for popular acclaim.”
To understand Defunkt’s infectious funk jams and irresistible ’80s horn charts, some history is needed. Many of the band members have worked with saxophonist James Chance’s dance-punk groups. Others came out of the avant-jazz movement, having worked with the bands of horn players Arthur Blythe and Steve Coleman.
All Defunkt members have a common vision. As guitarist Kelvyn Bell put it, the band tries “to get people to dance to music with strange tonal possibilities.” Defunkt’s self-titled 1980 debut has them achieving this goal in the truest sense.
The album’s first track, “Make Them Dance,” is an addictive club-thumper. Throughout the song, bandleader, lead singer and trombonist Joseph Bowie’s voice sounds ravenous and lustful as he describes the pleasures of a night at a club. “Wear some clothes/ that fit you well/ and go to places/ that you wouldn’t dare to go in your wildest dreams,” he croons. Bowie coolly raps as a scintillating James Brown-esque, gutbucket-funk rhythm soars around him, and the horn section follows his voice with fire.
In “Thermonuclear Sweat,” the band creates incredibly danceable music with a loping horn part, and Bowie screams, “Your face is wet/ with a Thermonuclear Sweat.”
“Melvin’s Tune,” named for bass player Melvin Gibbs, reveals the band’s avant-garde sensibilities. Here, screaming horns and flutes fight with angry guitars and synths for control of your ears with their whiny, shrieking timbres, providing sounds that have not been heard before.
Throughout the record, Defunkt’s horns reach blissful climaxes and the guitars provide extra funky muscle with their rhythmic grounding. The jams are long and percussive and the grooves seem to go on and on—be prepared to break it down and get funky.
“Defunkt” by Defunkt. $19.97. Released in 1980.
